SINGAPORE - A former investigation assistant with the anti-graft agency who committed money mule offences while on bail for theft and credit card fraud was jailed for 22 months on Monday (July 4).
Christopher Gan Boon Khong, who faced 138 charges, admitted to 32 charges including theft, cheating and causing hurt.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Chew Xin Ying said Gan, 26, was at Club V6 at Sultan Plaza, Jalan Sultan, at about 12.30am on July 2 , 2014 when he saw the staff place a black guest check folder on the counter with Ms Vedula Vijay Kumar's DBS Black Visa Platinum card to process payment for a garland. When the cashier was not looking, Gan stole the card.
He headed to a pub at Tanglin Shopping Centre where he used the card to pay for two bottles of cognac worth $358, and another four bottles of cognac worth $776 from another pub in the same building.
Before he returned to the club at Jalan Sultan, he also bought a shirt at Mustafa Centre using the stolen card. Questioned by the cashier at Club V6, he denied stealing customers' credit cards. He said he was a police officer and showed his Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau warrant card.
He was taken to a room to discuss the possibility of a private settlement but Gan continued to insisted that he did not steal any card. Customer relationship manager Daniel Chan Kian Hong then took him to the security room where he showed Gan CCTV footage of him removing the DBS Black card from the guest check folder.
Gan started behaving aggressively and scuffled with Mr Chan to try and get away. But Gan slipped and fell and was arrested.
In another other theft and cheating case , the court heard that on June 29 that year, he used his Standard Chartered Bank card to pay for two flower garlands worth $250 at Club V6.
Shortly, a staff mistakenly presented him with a guest check folder containing Ms Wendy Lim Geok Lian's HSBC Visa credit card and a transaction slip. He claimed the card was his and signed on it.
He then passed the HSBC card to the cashier and asked her to use it instead of his Standard Chartered Bank card to pay for a $200 garland.
In all, he made 12 unauthorised transactions amounting to $2,699, and has paid back the victims.
In another case, the court heard that between August and December last year, police received numerous reports of victims who said they had been conned into either transferring money to a local POSB account, or paying Alipay or iTunes credits as prepayment and/or deposits for purported sexual services.
Despite having made payments, no sexual services were provided to the victims.
Between Aug 26 and Sept 9 last year, Gan acquired a total of $34,900 from more than 50 incoming transactions. He had converted $34,158 to credits through buying 63 Alipay Purchase Cards. He kept the remaining $742 for himself as commission.
His lawyer Nirmal Singh said Gan was himself a victim of a massage-for-credits scam perpetrated by one Shi Ya and a Malaysian Chinese guy.
He said his client is sincerely remorseful and regrets committing the offences.
The court backdated Gan's sentence to March 24 this year.
